Different court systems have varying ways of determining guilt in criminal trials. In the US, a jury must find a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Factors that may contribute to a guilty verdict include evidence quality and quantity, witness testimony, and defendant characteristics. The prosecution has the burden of proof and evidence can be documentary, physical, demonstrative, or testamentary. A defendant has the right to self-incrimination and is not required to present a defense. Subjective factors such as appearance and likability can also influence a verdict.
Court systems around the world have very different ways of determining guilt in a criminal trial. In the United States, for a defendant to be found guilty, a jury must find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Scholars have spent countless hours trying to determine what contributes to a guilty jury verdict; however, there is still no magic formula that seems to apply in all cases. Things that may contribute to a guilty verdict include: the amount of evidence presented by the prosecution; the quality of the evidence presented by the prosecution; the experience and credibility of the prosecutor hearing the case; the defense presented, or not, by the defendant; and the general characteristics of the defendant.
Within the United States, the prosecution has the burden of proving the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The precise definition of “beyond a reasonable doubt” has also been debated by judges, lawyers and scholars for as long as the term has existed. Most definitions compare the burden of being convinced to a guarantee of about 95% or more. In order for the prosecution to reach a guilty verdict, most jurisdictions require the jury to reach a unanimous verdict, meaning they must all agree to return a not guilty verdict.
The prosecution in a criminal trial will present evidence to the jury in an attempt to convince them of the defendant’s guilt. Evidence can be documentary, physical, demonstrative or testamentary. While simply introducing a large amount of evidence shouldn’t, by itself, equate to a guilty verdict, juries are often swayed by the sheer volume when it comes to guilty evidence. Jurors are laymen, and as such are often ill-equipped to sift through the volume of evidence presented to determine how relevant or reliable it may be.
The quality of the evidence presented clearly affects the likelihood of a jury delivering a guilty verdict. For example, in a murder trial, presenting DNA evidence that positively identifies the defendant’s presence at the crime scene is compelling evidence of guilt. Likewise, introducing evidence that the murder weapon was found on the defendant will likely contribute to a guilty verdict. Expert witnesses can work for or against the prosecution. While juries tend to believe their testimony, they can also become very confused by it and may simply dismiss it altogether if they don’t understand it.
A witness’s testimony can also play an important role in a guilty verdict. While eyewitness testimony has been scientifically proven to be far from accurate, juries tend to believe it anyway. When a victim testifies, her testimony will clearly have a major impact on the jury.
In the United States, a defendant is not required to present any defense. A defendant has the right to self-incrimination in addition to the fact that the burden of proving guilt lies with the prosecution, not with the defendant proving innocence. While this is the legal standard, juries often want to hear the defendant and may take it as an admission of guilt by the defendant not testifying, despite the legal requirement that they do not.
While subjective factors, such as the liking of the prosecutor or the defendant, or the appearance of either, shouldn’t contribute to a guilty verdict, studies show that, in fact, they often do. An experienced prosecutor knows how to engage a jury, which goes a long way in a criminal trial. On the other hand, many defendants simply don’t show up well in court, which can have a subtle effect on the jury, even if they don’t consciously realize it.
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